


Paintings on his skin colors in his hair

by theonlydickineedisgrayson



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017), Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2018-12-06 16:26:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 4,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11604414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonlydickineedisgrayson/pseuds/theonlydickineedisgrayson
Summary: soulmate au where things u write on urself appear on ur soulmatekudos and comment <3





	1. Chapter 1

When he was younger, he was covered in colors. The basic eight pack crayola marker set, lines dashing his legs and squiggles on his arms and a big scribble of all the colors over his stomach. As he grew up the scribbles became doodles, marks in gel pens then normal pens, highlighters and expo. Smileys, cars, food. Then words, vocab words, homework assignments, schedules and tv shows to watch, notes to self. There were poems, bits of prose and novel ideas. Research topics, names, places. The marks sprawled over both his arms. Each color coded and matching the other, one set of handwriting on the left arm, another on the right.   

 

As a kid, Stiles would spend his time wandering through the unlocked doors of the precinct. Waiting was hard for him, but his dad’s coworkers took it in stride and started keeping toys on their desks. His favorite distraction was a box of markers that Cynthia brought out for him. After he was banned from using up the copier paper and went through the good scraps from each of the recycling bins, (which didn’t actually take too long) he started using his skin as a canvas.

 

FP Jones laughed. His son was confused… worried about how these marks got on his skin. “Watch out kiddo, you’ll get ink poisoning.”

“What? I didn’t do this I don’t know where it came from!” the 8 year old shouted, panicked that he was going to die. It took five minutes of his mom telling him that his father was _joking, markers aren’t poisonous, you’re not sick. In fact, this is a great thing! It means you have a soulmate, someone to complete you and make you as happy as you and your sister make me._

The way she explained it, there were different types of soulmates. Romantic, platonic, familial, either way that person is there to complete you.

“You see this tattoo, baby? When Jellybean was born she had this same picture right on her stomach where mine is. That means that she’s gonna be one of the most important people in my life, and I hers.”

“...so wait, you love Jellybean more than you love me?”

“Oh no, no darling, it just means that there’s someone else out there for you. Who can make you even happier than I could. Look, we can draw something on your skin too, and your soulmate will know that they have someone made especially for them.” the small smile Jughead gave her was all she needed to know that whoever his soulmate was, they were lucky.

 

“Uhhhhh… dad? Dad something’s happening…” Stiles said, voice rising in volume and pitch. When the deputy walked in, well, he wasn’t quite sure what he was seeing. His left arm and legs were covered in colorful lines, primary colors mixed on a palette of skin while on his right arm, a black line blooming into a picture. The lines squiggled next to each other, joined at the top and bottom.

“...Bacon? Hah, Stiles, what’s happening is that your soulmate is drawing breakfast foods on your arm.”

“Soulmate?” he asked, while other deputies around them made noises of happiness.

“Soulmates are what me and your mom are, people that love each other so much, that they complete each other’s worlds.”

“... why is mine drawing eggs?”

 

As Stiles and Scott entered middle school, Stiles wondered more and more about who his soulmate might be. It wasn’t Scott, it wasn’t anyone in his grade as far as he could tell, in fact he colored his entire left hand in green marker to find out. Nobody he saw in the three days of him wandering around town with a green hand showed him who would make him happy. Something he did see, however, was a word written on his right arm that made sense to him, something that he thought may have been intended for him rather than a note to self.

WASH- he had a feeling this was about his green hand, as another reminder on his arm, in lowercase pen instead of red marker, was ‘picture day 9/5’ he cleaned the green off and the red word disappeared.

That was when he started his research. His school’s picture day was always in october, as were most of the schools in the county. He started keeping track of things he knew in the front cover of his math notebook

             Picture day 9/5 -not in beacon hills?

             Lefty- writes on right arm

             Messy handwriting- dad?

             Video games- ds

             Harry potter books- reads a lot- slytherin

             Uses black pen

             Makes ink scribbles on knees

             Draws little crown things

“Why’d you write dad?” Scott asked, looking over his shoulder.

“I think there’s a guy my dad works with, he can tell things just from writing”

“Oh cool! Hey can you help me with problem 12?”

“Dude you’re only on 12? Come on.”

 

“Uhmm, Juggie? What’s up with the hand?” Betty asked while they sat in his treehouse.

“Yeah dude, pretty sure green thumb is just an expression.” Archie laughed.

“Ha ha, I can’t wash it off. My soulmate did it I guess? Wouldn’t know why.”

“Tell me about your soulmate!”

“Betty how would I know, all I know is that they’re a righty and like colors. They’ve been writing about homework mostly. The name ‘Lydia’ was there a few times, with hearts around it, so that’s fun. They love someone else. So, that’s… sad.”

“Oh shut up,” she responded, “you know what a crush is and you know you have nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah but, but what if they hate me?” Archie grabbed his arm this time,

“There’s no way that could happen, Jugs, nobody with half a mind could ever hate you.”

 


	2. space ape at the cape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im watching whats new scooby doo and this is the title of the episode  
> kudos and comment <3 <3 <3

_“Nobody with half a mind could ever hate you.”_

The first time he heard it, Jughead grinned. But then he kept hearing it, saying it to himself in Archie’s voice whenever he felt like someone hated him. That happened with his dad a lot, it was scary but with the reminder he knew he would be okay. _His dad doesn’t hate him, he’s just having a bad day._

But then FP’s bad days got worse, and turned into bad weeks, and then Jughead was saying it not only to himself but to his poor little sister as well. He would write it on his arms, and focused on what his other half had been writing down. They also liked to write on their arms for reminders, and had a habit of doodling on themselves. Jughead would focus on that when he felt a little less than loved.

They used markers, not pens. They were a righty, messy handwriting that everyone says looks like a boy’s. The name Lydia would still come up, as would ‘Scott’ in regards to plans. _Study with Scott, make Scott watch Star Wars, watch Halloween Suite Life w/ Scott, Halloweentown w/ Scott, just… whole halloween disney marathon to show poor Scotty what he’s missing._ They were sarcastic even when writing notes to themselves, which at least made Jughead smile a bit.

Jughead wrote down everything his soulmate wrote in a journal. They liked long sentences and still used colors all the time. Reminders were often in red, homework for different subjects was in different colors. Jughead wasn’t much for colors but he did realize that whenever he did, he would follow whatever his soulmate would do. Green for science, purple for English, black for history, blue for math, etc.

His dad laughed at him, thought it was stupid that he cared about his soulmate in anyway because _there’s no way that they would care about you._

Freshman of high school was when things started changing. Jughead was in the shower when he noticed thick black writing on his leg.

 

_Hey… soulmate?_

_I’m Stiles_

  
  


The first few days of high school were hard for Stiles, he and Scott were nobodies, Lydia paid even less attention to him than she did in middle school, and Scott was starting to notice girls. With his cute face of course they noticed him back, but Stiles was gangly and awkward and found himself bored and alone more often than usual.

_Well if Scott’s gonna abandon me to try and find love,_ he thought to himself, _maybe I should do some sleuthing myself._

This was the first time he tried to directly contact his soulmate.

 He wrote on his right upper thigh, so that when he and his soulmate would sit down they would easily be able to read it and write back.

 Two minutes later, Stiles was worrying at his lip, continuously checking at his legs, his arms, his anything for a response.

Two days later he noticed something resembling a response, right next to his own name.

 

_Jughead_


	3. red string

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yo its my first day of college classes  
> comments make me continue thank u to ppl who commented last chapter

Since then, neither boy initiated conversation, both too scared to say something wrong. 

Jughead couldn’t get caught being fond by his dad, and while the Serpents were at least nice to him whenever they saw him, Jughead knows that they’ll find out and give him hell for being a sap.

Stiles was just anxious. Why was there a delay in writing the word _Jughead_ ? Was that their name? Did they see it and not respond or did they just _not take their pants off for two whole days_?

Stiles was in no place to judge, just curious.

And Scott got heartbroken anyway, so he hung out with Stiles even more often than before and it’s not like Stiles was going to make him feel worse with soulmate talk.Unless of course Scott asked, in that case Stiles would pull out his soulmate notebook and show how marked up it was.

“How have you made this journal so messy? You’ve made a hundred notes but only in the first ten pages, why not just start a new page?”

“Starting a new page is too linear, people aren’t linear.”

“Dude you sound like you’re on CSI or something and have one of those clear detective boards with a silhouette and a question mark on the face.”

“Wait that’s a great idea. I’m doing that. Come help me find red string.”

“There you are Jughead!” Betty exclaimed, entering the empty classroom near the basement. It hasn’t been used for an actual class for years, just as a storage for boxes of paper towels and broken desks. She looked around the cement walls, bare except for where Jughead’s focus was before she came in. “...what are you doing?”

“Well detectives always have suspect walls in the movies so I figured I’d try it. Some authors do it too and I thought it was interesting.”

“Okayy, so what’s the mystery?”

“My soulmate.”

 


	4. Autograph

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i pretend like i know how to analyze handwriting  
> i dont  
> jug lives with his dad cuz its frosh year so thats y hes worried abt that  
> thank u for commenting it gives me life honestly <3 <3 <3  
> i apologize for any changes in formatting

 

“...You know you could just ask them about themselves.”

“Betts, one, that’s too easy and takes out the intrigue. I kind of like having the mystery aspect of it looming over me and it’s not like they’ve said anything relating to me since. Two, it’s starting to get hot out and I can’t have Reggie or my dad or anyone seeing that.”

“Seeing what? You trying to be happy?”

“I mean yeah. Reggie makes it his job to make sure I can never be happy and he can’t ruin something if he doesn’t know it’s there to ruin.”

“Juggie the school year just started. You can’t know everything about Reggie from a month of him knowing you exist. You know what they say, you can’t judge a book by it’s cover”

“Tell me that in a year, fairy godmother, and I bet you’ll be wrong.”

“Sorry Cinderella but sometimes you can just ask for things and get the solutions.”

“You sound like you’re selling me something.” Jughead huffed and turned away, looking back at the handwriting he copied from his leg.

 

_ Stiles _

 

_ Jughead _

 

Stiles has been staring at the photo since he woke up, constantly wondering about what they were like, what the name Jughead meant. He took it to his dad, obviously, who in turn sent it to a friend to be analyzed. They figured male, left handed which Stiles already knew, and that he writes the word Jughead in a familiar way, as he had probably been writing it most of his life if it was his name. The explanation was kind of confusing but the gist of it was ‘he writes his name regularly, it’s an instinct and sometimes gets sloppy but there is a preciseness to the letter shapes that makes them more distinctive, looking more like a signature’. 

Stiles started trying to copy the signature, he’d write it on papers and napkins and on his window in dry erase marker, making sure the swirl of the G was just right, a circle with a hook going through it. He’d never seen handwriting in a font like that and found himself doodling his soulmate’s name out of habit. 

He realized once, when he was scribbling on his arm, that Jughead might end up seeing his own name written on him. Luckily, it was a washable marker so he rubbed it off hopefully before he could notice.


	5. ring ring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ah  
> im lazy  
> ive been watching twin peaks and its really funny that riverdale was tryna be that  
> teen wolf is over and so am i tbh  
> guess what instead of finishing anything ever im just gonna make more new fics that i never work on  
> thank u for commenting it reminds me that this is good and fun  
> <3

“Hey Jug,” Archie whispered in the middle of class, “stuff’s showing up on your arm.” He looked down and, lo and behold, green letters drew themselves onto his right arm.

Jughead’s eyebrows raised when he realized, the slow-forming, deliberate lines spelled out  _ Jughead,  _ in an imitation of his signature.  __

_ My name? They’re writing my name? _

Jughead stared at his arm as the name is written, then washed away letter by letter. 

_ Wait that’s kind of cute that they’re trying to make my signature. _

Archie looked on as Jughead slumped over, face falling into his elbow as he grinned to himself with his eyes closed.

Archie couldn’t help but smile at his friend’s happiness, making a note to himself to make sure he investigates this further.

 

In fact, as Jughead was sleeping at his house after school, Archie grabbed a sharpie and wrote on his arm

_ skype me @ archihairy  _

 

Who the  _ fuck  _ is writing contact info on Stiles’ soulmate’s arm.

_ Um????? _

It’s not his soulmates handwriting, that’s for sure, written on the left arm where Stiles writes.

He had no idea whether this message for him or not. Should he call them? Should he respond?

Well, this sure is a clue.

 

“Scott what do I do, I’ve been staring at this dude’s skype for an hour and he’s a ginger prince the likes of which I’ve never seen.”

“Lydia?” Came Scott’s voice from the phone on his lap.

“Strawberry-Blonde Goddess Queen, you know this. No he’s like happy and nice looking like a bunny rabbit or something. It’s intimidating how innocent he looks. Like you but like… whiter, I guess.”

“What does that even mean? Also if he looks so innocent then just call the guy, you can quit with this who killed Laura Palmer conspiracy bullshit.”

“But if he’s hitting on my soulmate I’ll get pissed.”

“But, you’ll know something about them.”

“Fuck off Scotty, let me panic at this dudes skype profile in peace.”

“You called me man. What’s this dude’s username, let me see what all your fussing’s about.” Scott sighed through the receiver.

“If I tell you, you better not call him.”

“Oh come on, Stiles, I thought you’d trust me more than this.”

“Y’see talking like that just makes you sound more suspicious.”

“Oh chill, I just want to see this all-American Hollister model you’re talking about.”

“Fine,” Stiles receded, “it’s Archihairy, tag says his name is Archie and he’s from Maine.”

“Well that means so is your soulmate probably! There’s a clue for you.”

“Yeah I got that down, but also that’s across the damn country. I don’t like that. I’m broke dude, I can’t just drive over and hop into the woods.”

“But at least it’s in America, you don’t have to cross any borders or like learn a new language or anything. Oh no.”

“What?”

“I see what you mean about Archie now.”

“Right! I can’t have him hitting on my soulmate, I can’t compete with that!”

“You don’t have to compete for the person you’re literally made for.”

“I do when they’re across the country and have hunky gingers tryna skype them.”

“You still don’t know if this was for you or not, are you gonna call him?”

“No, I’m too freaked. It’s probably better to leave it alone anyway.”

"Wimp. I’m calling him.”

“NO!,” Stiles shouted as he heard Scott’s Skype ringing over the line, “You said you wouldn’t!”

“No I didn’t, I changed the topic. Oh it looks like he’s picking up, wanna chat with him?”

“Ahh fuck you! I’m coming over to hang you up you prick.” Stiles shouted into his speakerphone before hanging up and stomping around his room, getting ready.


	6. hello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lots of dialogue, i love the way they all talk  
> i think im very funny with these skype names  
> i love you  
> <3

Archie grinned as an unknown username called him.

 

_ Connecting to: _

_ Mccallingupyourgirl _

 

A mop of curly brown hair popped up on screen, a beautiful tan boy grinning at the camera.

_ This is Jughead’s soulmate? Wow, good for him. _

 

“Stiles?” the ginger asked.

 

“No, I’m his best friend Scott, Archie right?”

 

“Yup, I’m Jughead’s best friend. Not that I’m not psyched you called me, but why didn’t Stiles?”

 

“He’s a wimp who wasn’t sure if your note was meant for him or not. It’s pretty dumb but he’s been caught up in the mystery of trying to figure out things about his soulmate piece by piece and he was afraid that someone else was trying to hit on his perfect person. Then he saw your profile pic and got intimidated.”

 

“That’s nuts, Jughead is the same way, he was too afraid to keep talking to Stiles because he thought he would mess it up so instead he started writing down everything that showed up on his arms like it’s a code for him to decipher.”

 

“Seems like they’re a good match, then. Does yours know you tried to call him?”

 

“No, he’s asleep right now in another room so I took the opportunity to graffiti him up for the sake of getting over this damn mystery crush. Does yours know?”

 

“Yeah, we were talking on the phone and he told me not to call you, he’s gonna come storming in my room in like five minutes and demand me hang up on you.”

 

“Important question, does Stiles wear his hair in a way where you can see his entire forehead?”

 

“Uhh… yeah, it’s spiked up and he says that hats are propaganda from the beauty industry trying to convince us that our natural hair isn’t good enough.”

 

“That’s hilarious and I’m so confused.”

 

“Yeah he says lots of stuff like that, why did you need to know?”    
Scott asked. Archie grinned suspiciously and left the video frame.

“Just a little present for you from me.” he chuckled as he came back onto the screen.

“Should I wake Jughead up? So he can see his soulmate when he shows up.”

 

“Nah, I don’t want to bother him. Besides, since they’re both so anxious to draw this out you and I might as well fuck with them, here, give me your number before Stiles shows up.”

 

Archie chuckled and nodded. Right after Scott saved his number and sent the boy a wolf emoji, Stiles burst in the room with a shout.

 

“Et tu, Brute?” he yelled in between gasps.

 

“Dude did you just run here? Like you didn’t bother to drive?”

 

“This is too important, and my hands were shaking so I ended up dropping my keys behind a cabinet and couldn’t just stay there laying on the floor while you sat here scheming against me with a stranger.” As he was speaking, Scott looked at him and could barely contain his laughter. Not only was Stiles a master of over-emoting, but he also had a penis drawn onto his head, right by his hairline.  


	7. lets split up gang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> archie and scott are in love and call their boys adorable but still think that theyre str8- that will change  
> hot take; im really ok w what happened to grundy  
> cheryl blossom can fuck me UP  
> ive been thinking about scooby doo a lot and how everyone has an exclamation but fred says lets split up gang and ive been using it as an exclamation for weeks so like ill drop something and say to myself 'lets split up gang'   
> dude so many ppl have read this its wild thank u  
> i love you

Archie grinned at the two boys on the screen, then at the picture of Jughead he just took on his phone. It was him alright, and Archie could tell that he was perfect for his best friend. He looked back up when Stiles shouted.

“Traitor!”

“No Stiles don’t close it no nonononon-”

 

And then the call ended.

  
  


_ From: beammeupscotty _

_ Stiles shut my laptop even though he knows it crashes my computer DX _

_          Dued ur computers shit _

 

_ U dont have to tell me ‘dued’, i kno _

 

_          U come into my house _

_          And diss my spelling _

_          U used an DX emoticon _

 

_ Im not ashamed of what i am _

 

_           I can tell jug’ll like stiles _

_           Like even from his voice its gonna b gr8 4 him _

 

_ Thats adorable _

 

_          Speaking of look @ this adorable pic of jug sleeping w a dick on his head _

_          -attached image- _

 

_ aDORABL E _

_ HES SO SOFT AND EMO _

 

_           Accurate description _

 

_ Up8: i showed stiles n hes blushing _

_ -attached image- _

 

_          ???????adorable _

_          Kinda diminished by the dickhead but all the more charming _

 

Archie decided that he liked Scott. Clearly he was a good person, so if he liked Stiles than he figured he could trust him too. He walked back into his room where Jughead lay, still sleeping, and checked his phone for Scott’s response, but there wasn’t any. Until five minutes later.

 

_ This is stiles, i confiscated scotts phone and turns out i hate you both _

 

_         Nah you dont mean that _

 

_ I mean i cant hate scott but jurys out on you _

_ I should block your number _

 

_           You wont, i can tell youre a romantic, i got ur number stiles i kno how u feel, i may not be smart but im not dumb _

 

_ Shit u got me there _

_ Can u at least wash the dick of our head _

 

_            Fine _

 

He did not.


	8. worlds collide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i miss teen wolf

Stiles looked in the mirror with a frown on his face, on a speakerphone call with Scott.

“Hey can you tell Archie that I fucking hate him.” 

“You know you could tell him yourself, you have his skype and his number and like you can get your soulmate’s number easy peasy.”

“You know why I can’t do that.”

“No I do NOT know why you can’t do that. You’re like one of those stupid machine things with a bunch of marbles and pulleys and shit where you like hit a domino and it makes you a sandwich. Like yo, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, not everything is a trap.”

“Rube Goldberg.”

“What about my dentist?”

“Rube Goldberg isn’t your fucking dentist dumbass he’s the guy who made the stupid complicated machines.”

“Hey don’t diss Dr. Goldberg he’s been my dentist my whole life. But seriously, why can’t you just talk to him instead of taping a photo of him sleeping to your wall like a stalker. Look dude, you know I love your beautiful mind but the schtick is getting old and you’re literally making a dickhead out of yourself. Just talk to the dude.”

Maybe Scott was right, it was Sunday night and his face had been… well, defaced, since friday afternoon. He spent the weekend at home with only Scott and his dad to laugh at him. Clearly he couldn’t just walk into school in his condition, and it’s not like his dad would ever buy a sick day after what he saw. 

 

_ Hey can u wash the dick off our collective forehead _

 

Jughead looked at his arm. Now what the  _ fuck _ did that mean? There’s no way there could just be a dick on his head without him knowing, he’s looked in the mirror for god’s sake. He went back into the bathroom just to be sure to find nothing obvious, but after moving back his bangs he saw. Once he got it off he grabbed a washable marker from his desk.

 

_ How long has this been here?  _

 

_ Archie drew it friday afternoon when u were napping or smth _

 

_ Since when did you know about archie? _

 

_ He and my bff have been talking to eachother _

_ Arch didnt tell u? _

 

_ No….  _

_ Is scott the bff? _

 

_ Ye  _

_ W8 how do u kno  _

 

_ Youd write about plans w him a lot _

 

_ Damn u right _

_ U kno what _

_ This is fucking pathetic and ridiculous how bout u just give me ur number im running out of arm _

 

_ I mean u have more body parts than that but ok _


	9. SPRING BREAAAAK

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im back babayyy  
> i havent written for this for a while and i forgot abt the timeline and its kinda fucky but were gonna pretend that lydia is their friend and everythings chill and that they can drive even tho they miiight be 15 but whatevs

“Stiles, how many times do I need to tell you, your phone does not belong in the biology lab.”

_ I g2g jug, science time _

_           Have fun bill nye _

 

Stiles pocketed his phone and turned to Lydia, focusing back on the lab report in front of them. 

“So how’s the soulmate connection?” Lydia smirked.

 

“... I mean... good. He seems cool and we have similar interests which is nice.”

“You met him yet?”

“Lyds he lives across country. I’m poor.”

“I mean sure, but… I’m not.”

“What?” 

“April vacation is in a couple weeks, I don’t have any plans.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Spring break road trip? You, me, and Scott take my not shitty car and pull a cross-country to set you up with your boyfriend. Scott too, probably, he hasn’t shown physical signs but he talks about Archie kinda a lot.”

“That’s true about Scott, and shut up he’s not my boyfriend. Wouldn’t that be a lot though? Like just showing up to his town from across the country?. I’ve only been talking to him for a few months.”

“You guys are literally destined to be together, and you know I love being too much.”

“Also don’t think I missed that dig on Roscoe, low blow, Martin. But that might be nice, actually. I’ll ask Scott and maybe talk to Jug and see if he has any plans.”

 

After that and another shushing from the teacher, the pair quickly finished up and turned in their lab report. Lydia started looking up the quickest route to New England and different regional stores and hotels.

 

“Apparently Maine is a giant forest with mountains and east coast people are meaner. Riverdale seems pretty okay though, they have a 24 hour diner and a band called Josie and the Pussycats who are popular in the town. They have lots of maple syrup.”

“Yeah Juggie’s told me about Pop’s, the diner, he goes there a lot and loves the burgers. The rest of the town seems like he could take it or leave it.”

 

_ Jug, when do u have april vacay _

_            Two weeks, why? _

_            Comin to visit lil ol me? ;) _

 

_ … would that be totally weird? _

 

_            Wait srsly? U live in cali???  _

 

_ Lydia suggested us and scott roadtrip _

_ Would that be insane? _

 

_             I mean a little but… i think itd b nice _

 

_ Me too _


	10. The Drive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia is great  
> ive stopped watching Riverdale cuz theres so much unnecessary drama and mayb ive grown out of it but this is still gonna happen at least for a bit, im out of school so maybe expect updates to all my stuff, mayb new stuff idk  
> kudos and comment make me do more <3

They were passing through the midwest states with such little change that Stiles couldn’t even guess which one they were in. Maybe Ohio, maybe Minnesota, he didn’t even know how far apart the two were. They were past the halfway mark regardless. Lydia was a ruthless driver and since they left Friday after school they were projected to get there late Sunday night.

It was early Sunday morning, Scott was passed out in the back while Stiles stared out the passenger window, watching the fields that they flew passed and counting the red barns he’d see every ten minutes or so.

“There’s a tree in the middle of that corn field. Why? So they can climb it and watch over their corn? It’s not like it’s going anywhere.” 

“Gotta watch out for corn thieves, Stiles, obviously.”

“You’re so right, let’s go steal that corn while nobody’s watching.”

“What if they have security cams in the tree? Did you think about that?”

“Damn, Lyds, right again.” he laughed along with his friend.

“As always… hey, can we real talk for a sec?” Stiles reeled for a moment at the change in tone and topic.

“Of course, Lyds, always. What’s up?”

“Are you nervous? This is your _ soulmate  _ we’re talking about. Not everyone has that y’know. There’s a lot to unpack here.”

“I mean I was trying not to think about it cuz yeah, what if I fuck it all up? What if his family and friends don’t like me? What if  _ he _ doesn’t like me?” 

Stiles paused, thinking of the universal implications of having a soulmate. How does it determine who gets what? Tons of people don’t get soulmates and the way marks work change depending on who has them. It’s not common for something like this to happen and recently Stiles has been grappling with what he has and what he deserves. He knows great people that deserve to have someone made especially for them, Scott and Lydia included.  

“Lydia, what if the Universe made a mistake?”

“Impossible.”

“You can’t know that.”

“ _ Stiles, _ ” she sighed, “let yourself have a good thing and chill out for like two whole seconds.”

He paused, his mind going back to all the shit they’ve been through the past couple of months. 

“Can’t get complacent. Not yet.”

“I’m sure Jughead is having the same thoughts as you, okay? You’re not alone in this and whether you believe it or not you deserve good things. You work hard and you feel hard and you take care of those you care about, Jughead is lucky to maybe be one of those people.”

Stiles was silent, staring out the window and restarting up the barn count. 

“You might not believe me,” she said, “but you know I’m always right.” 


End file.
